Amnesty International Tracked By UK Goverment

Amnesty International is an organisation dedicated to promoting human rights and defends victims who have been abused. They have recently forayed into the world of digital rights, with the release of an Anti-spyware programme designed to track down and alert you to common signs that your computer may be observed or accessed remotely. Ironically, the latest news is that members of Amnesty International have been observed by GCHQ (the Governmental branch within the UK that overlooks digital security).

On Wednesday, Amnesty International announced they received an email outlining that their information had been intercepted, accessed and recorded. The time frame that this information was obtained from and stored from has yet to be disclosed. The revelation was revealed by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), who are in charge of monitoring and making sure that government agencies follow the policies involved in surveillance. Following from these investigations Amnesty International has requested that the IPT hold a public hearing into the claims, allowing for the scope and detail of the surveillance to be revealed in the open.

With the scope of the surveillance unknown and the detail unclarified to both the public and Amnesty International itself, it’s hard to disagree that there should be more open and public discussions when it comes to the level that digital surveillance is used (even illegally).